The storeroom incident became the whisper of the week.
People speculated. Friends teased. But Zhao Yichen and Liang Meiyu never spoke about what almost happened between them that day.
And yet… something had definitely changed.
---
It started small.
Zhao Yichen stopped teasing her every five seconds.
He still sat with his feet on the desk, still rolled his eyes at teachers—but now, he passed Meiyu her notebook without being asked. He waited for her at the gates sometimes, without saying why.
And Meiyu, for her part, had stopped avoiding eye contact. She smiled more. Laughed more.
Especially when he was around.
---
One quiet afternoon, during a free period, Meiyu sat alone under the cherry blossom tree in the school courtyard, sketching flowers in her notebook.
Yichen appeared beside her and dropped a bottle of cold milk tea in her lap.
"Still drinking that plain warm stuff?" he asked.
She smiled. "Milk tea's bad for your skin, you know."
"Lucky for me, I'm perfect either way."
She giggled—a soft, warm sound that made his chest feel funny.
He sat beside her, staring up at the pink petals fluttering down. "Why are you always out here by yourself?"
"I like quiet," she said. "And watching people from afar."
"Sounds lonely."
"It's peaceful."
He turned to look at her.
And then she smiled at him.
Not a shy, polite smile. Not a forced one.
A real one. Full of warmth, soft and genuine—just for him.
He blinked, momentarily stunned. "What?"
She tilted her head. "Nothing."
"No. What's with that smile?"
"Can't I just smile at you?"
He looked away, ears turning pink. "Not if you want me to function properly."
Meiyu laughed again. "You're weird."
"You're worse."
But she didn't argue this time.
Instead, she plucked a petal from his hair and gently placed it in her sketchbook.
"I think I'm getting used to sitting next to you," she said softly.
"You say that like you have a choice."
She looked at him again. "I mean it in a good way."
His heart stuttered.
"…You really shouldn't say things like that, Meiyu," he muttered.
"Why?"
"Because I'll start wanting to hear them all the time."
---
That day, Zhao Yichen walked her home. Not because he had to.
Because he wanted to.
And Meiyu didn't stop him.
---